Dessert.

Since the man & I have been together, I've gained 7 pounds of "happy" fat. While I'm still happy, I had decided to make smarter choices for our meals & portion things more realistically.

However, this doesn't mean that we've stopped having dessert. Oh, no. That wouldn't do. There are definitely fewer desserts in a week, though.

Last night, the man & I had a little date night. We opened a bottle of wine (courtesy of Food & Wine's wine club), I made strip steak with garlicky olivada, & then we had poached pears for dessert.

It was a caloric splurge night for sure.

The pears? They were magnificent. We couldn't find star anise, & I didn't want to use my vanilla beans for this. So, we used extracts without any real hit to taste. Also, I used about 1/2 cup agave nectar in lieu of the 1 & 1/4 cup sugar. (That's a LOT of sugar!!)


I ate my half pear plain with a little of the syrup on top. The man had his with a little vanilla bean ice cream. Divine!!!

We gave this 5/5 stars. Make it!!

P.S. We used the small bottles of Robert Mondavi cab sav for this. The bottles come in a 4-pack & are super convenient for cooking.

It's a Christmas Cookie Explosion!

Just ask the man. ;)

As gifts for my family, I've decided to make cookies for everyone. The problem is that a few family members have food intolerances/allergies, which makes this a little more creative of a problem. I've chosen these cookies for everyone:

1. Alton Brown's sugar cookies (made gluten-free with Jules' flour)

What I love:

The cookies taste fresh when they are 2 weeks old, the batch of dough makes a lot, & they're really tasty.

What I hate:

All the sifting hurts my hands/arms. I always forget that I can probably just get away with whisking the dough.

2. Heidi's peanut cookies (egg-free, dairy-free, made gluten-free)

What I love:

These cookies are delicioso!

What I hate:

They are a little crumbly & work well as a smaller cookie. It all works out well later as they need a glass of milk as an accompaniment.

3. Heidi's thin mint cookies (egg-free, made gluten-free)

What I love:

I made these years ago using a star-shaped cookie cutter. All of my little points broke when I dipped them in chocolate. This year, I made little rounds, & that worked out swell!!

What I hate:

The dough turns rock-hard if you leave them in the fridge for too long. (Heidi recommends freezing it for 20 minutes, but I refrigerated them since it would be a day or two until I could bake them.)

4. Chocolate chip cookies

What I love:

These are my go-to chocolate chip cookie recipe. My number 1 Taste Tester just smiled, mumbled, & finished his cookie. They are WAY delicious.

5. Almond lemon biscotti (made diabetic-friendly with agave nectar & no white chocolate dip)

What I love:

The flavor of these are amazing. Really lovely. I opted to zest 2 oranges in my 4th batch in lieu of the lemons & swapped the sugar for agave nectar. Really nice!

What I hate:

My first batch turned out mildly crunchy. My second? Extremely hard. I'd kick that second baking time down to 10 minutes.

6. Chocolate hazelnut biscotti
old link: http://www.foodnetwork.com/recipes/sara-moulton/chocolate-hazelnut-biscotti-recipe/index.html

What I love:

The man said these weren't overly chocolately, which was nice.

What I hate:

The dough got a few big cracks in it while it was baking. I didn't think that I overmixed!

7. maybe Triple Chocolate Cranberry Oatmeal cookies

What I love:

You can really hide the flax to go egg-free in these. I haven't made them yet, & I don't know how much more baking I can do this week. I'll keep you posted!

Also, we ran out of tupperware to store all the cookies before shipment. Must ship all cookies tonight!